Doing Business in Israel

Run 4-5 times annually, Doing Business in Israel (DBI) is a 10-day, 36-contact hour seminar designed to introduce international MBA teams from partner schools into Israel's high-tech and entrepreneurship sectors. DBI's versatile & diverse learning environment integrates the field and the classroom. Participants learn about the dynamics of the Israeli economy and business environment through multiple perspectives: theoretical background lectures on Israel's macroeconomic setting and economic/business sectors; case studies representing Israeli companies at different lifecycle stages, such as Babylon, Given Imaging and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems; company and startup visits; talks with executives, serial entrepreneurs, and government officials.

Over 500 students from leading business schools, such as UCLA, NYU, ESADE, Booth and Ross have taken part in the program, either in designated groups from specific schools or integrative ones affiliated with different institutions.

The Program frames the central aspects of doing business in Israel within the context of the country's high-tech and entrepreneurship sectors. Students gain a comprehensive view into the Israeli business environment, integrating academic perspective and insights with a hands-on introduction into the dynamics of the business field.

The Program offers an experiential educational setting, based on a combination of teaching methodologies:

Academic Lectures

DBI classes, held by Coller School of Management lecturers specializing in different aspects of macroeconomics, strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship, will introduce participants into the strategic setting of the Israeli economy, providing them with a broad understanding of its structure, dynamics and related cultural and social aspects.

Lectures will present the Israeli macroeconomic environment through different features and parameters: the banking and finance systems; high-tech corporations: their corporate culture and position in the Israeli market; the dynamics of the advanced technological sectors: technology transfers and commercialization, M&A's; funding channels and alternatives: government support and investment, the VC perspective, startup financing.

Business Cases

DBI introduces students to the dynamics of the Israeli entrepreneurial environment by analyzing Israeli corporations representing different sectors and industries, differing in size and stage of development. The cases allow students to acquire an understanding of strategic issues and corporate culture in high-tech corporations, by taking a top management perspective and formulating a competitive business-level strategy for their assigned cases.

DBI master classes introduce the seminar's participants to the perspective of entrepreneurs, CEOs, investors and government officials involved in policymaking, funding and business processes taking place in the Israeli high-tech and entrepreneurship scenes. Through these talks and encounters, DBI participants come to appreciate the diversity of professional considerations associated with innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as the challenges to be tackled.

Company & Startup Visits

The industrial field trips held within the framework of the Seminar allow participants to learn about entrepreneurship, innovation and high-tech in their actual scene of occurrence, exposing them to the actual processes of production. Visits take place to a diversity of ventures, locations and production sites, demonstrating the multifaceted nature of the Israeli entrepreneurship and high-tech.

Join us for our next DBI program!

Winter 2017 - Decemebr 27, 2017 until January 4, 2018.

Spring 2018 - May 21-29, 2018

Accommodation for 10 nights: Check-in and check-out of the hotel are a day before the program begins and a day after it concludes.